Home at last, Wolves await

Menendez readies for first on-campus home game, eyes 2-0 start

Practice had run some 45 minutes overtime on a steamy Labor Day morning at Menendez High School and the Falcons still weren't finished.

Oh, they were done on the practice field, but there was work to be done on the playing field -- the new, on-campus stadium they'll finally call home Friday night.

Construction workers were still busy with the bleachers while Menendez players and coaches dragged heavy, water-logged track equipment from the field and loaded it on trucks for storage.

There's work yet to be done by the construction workers and players alike. There's a stadium to finish, a game to play.

The Falcons' opening night guests this Friday will be the Deltona Wolves, who struggled through a 1-9 season in 2000 and began 2001 inauspiciously last Friday, trailing 34-0 at halftime of a 34-6 loss to Poinciana. They fumbled five times in the first half.

Menendez, meanwhile, seems to be riding a wave of momentum from back-to-back wins in Jacksonville -- a 33-30 preseason shootout with Episcopal Aug. 24 and a lightning-delayed, 13-7 battle with Bishop Kenny in last Friday's regular season opener. And if the Falcons' following for those two games is any indication, fans would do well to arrive early if they want somewhere to sit in a facility that seats about 2,000.

Ideally, Menendez can feed off the enthusiasm of its first true home opener -- the Falcons played 2000 home games some 12 miles away, at FSDB's Usina Stadium -- and take a 2-0 record into its first-ever district game at Palatka Sept. 14.

''That's our goal, to go into Palatka 2-0,'' coach Dwaine Fisher said Monday. ''It would heighten our confidence going into Palatka. We've got to go in there 2-0. They're (Palatka) going to be big and they're going to be fast.

''But right now, we've got to take care of Deltona.''

Ah yes, the Wolves.

Despite their recent struggles and the Falcons' encouraging start, Menendez is only beginning its second year of varsity football and is in no position to take any team for granted.

''They're a very big team up front,'' said Fisher, whose club, with a few exceptions, is on the small side. ''They run a 5-2 (defense). They're very disciplined guys who read their keys.

''They've been on the short end of the stick the last few games, but they've got a great quarterback and a pretty good tailback. They don't pitch it too much (to the tailback), but he can hurt you.''

The quarterback and leader of Deltona's veer offense is Matt Trumbly, a first-year starter who ran 50 yards for the Wolves' only touchdown Friday night. Trumbly did not attempt a pass -- a striking departure last season, when Deltona averaged some 200 yards through the air per game.

''They can throw, but they rely on (Trumbly) to run the veer,'' said Fisher, who'd like to keep Trumbly off the field with an offense that burns the clock and blocks a bit better than it did against Bishop Kenny.

''We need to maintain our blocks. We were going where they were instead of where they were going to be,'' Fisher said. ''If they had stood still and waited on us, we'd have been fine. We've got to take the right angles and make the right steps.''

Kenny frustrated the Falcons after Latrell Moore's 60-yard punt return, turning them back three times inside the five-yard-line. Menendez got on the board later on touchdown runs of 10 yards by Matt Scarpitti and one yard by Brandon Galloway.

The defense took it from there and the Falcons take a 1-0 record into their first true home game.

''The whole defensive group -- they came out with a high level of intensity and didn't let up until the clock said zero-zero-zero,'' Fisher said. ''If we can maintain that and the offense picks it up, we'll do well.